For the past year, my sights have been set on a western adventure – one that would cover great stretches of land I had only visited on screens and book pages. While I can hardly compare my ambitions to those of Lewis & Clark, I have thought of them often as I plan this journey. What it must have been like to know that for many days and months, they stepped and laid eyes on land only previously in the imaginations of those living east of the Mississippi. Any map of the time showed nothing but wide open space and employed the word “Territory”. How exciting, and occasionally terrifying!
My own travels may not be quite so groundbreaking, yet the thrill of heading in the same direction as Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery has me counting down the hours!
Around the Bend
As I traverse America in the weeks to come, I’ve added a new feature to my website called “Around the Bend”. Think of it as a daily or almost daily ride along! While it would be easy to just give you chapter and verse on each day (yawn!), I’ll aim to share a little bit of the magic. A few photos, short snippets of stories and interesting encounters, maybe even a bit of decent insight into the sheer bliss of heading down a road into the unknown. Please come along for the ride!
AND . . . being away for such a big chunk of time from family, friends and readers will make me eager to hear from you! Let me know what you love, what you don’t, or possibly how you are encouraged to pack your own car and head on down the road. One of the best parts of Just Being Bing is hearing from all of you!
So let me tell you a little about my summer tour to the Pacific Northwest (which begins in just a few days!!), and if you’re new to Just Being Bing, I’ll share just a bit about my philosophy about travel too.
The Road to “Who Knows”
I’ve recently been reading William Least Heat-Moon’s excellent travelogue “Blue Highways”. It’s an oldie but a goodie, and came highly recommended to me a few years ago when I first began my own “no highways” adventures. Mr. Heat-Moon had adopted the same philosophy exactly 40 years earlier, traveling only on those blue-lined/non-highways on the map, spending the best part of 3 months meandering around and across America.
He is eminently quotable, so if you follow along on my journeys at all, you’ll likely hear his name, and his words, again and again. His adventure had little plan, other than to stay off the highways, and to seek out the curious little towns across America. Truly he went where the spirit moved him on any given day.
A week into the journey, on a particularly cold dark day, he considered turning back, wondering why “he had ever come away to this place”. His next choice speaks clearly to me, and to the magical feeling of wonder in my own wanderings.
“Home was a left turn, right was who knows. ‘A man becomes what he does,’ Madison Wheeler had said. I took who knows.”
I’m excited to say that for the next month, I’m taking “who knows”. I have no idea what I will become, but four weeks of wonder and wandering will surely bring me back changed. Travel teaches endless lessons, not the least of which is that no matter what you encounter, how you spend your time, who you meet and what you see, it will change you. It’s not really optional.
The Route
Okay, so I’m not going completely Mr. Heat-Moon on this trip. I do have a bit of an agenda! While many of the details will be determined and then shared on an “as needed” basis, I’ll share the general idea. No doubt it is my most ambitious trip to date, and I can hardly wait.
The ultimate goal is to leave central PA and head west to the Pacific. While I’ve seen our western bookend ocean several times, I’ve always arrived via airplane. Driving there, from here, is another thing entirely. The straight out and back would cover close to 5,400 hundred miles . . . but that’s assuming time on those useful but unimaginative highways. So my road will be narrower, slower, and that much more satisfying.
The general route will cover 17 states, with the most time spent in Montana, Washington, Colorado and likely Oregon. Several of the 17 are just part of the means to get to the much-anticipated western end, but I’m well aware that adventure and surprise may be around any given bend.
The Sidekick
If you’re new to Just Being Bing,, let me tell you that one of the most important things to know is that my best (and only) passenger is this girl, Lexington Hope. She’s a seasoned traveler in her own right, and this trip will add 7 more states to the 15 she’s already sniffed out in her almost 3 years of dogdom.
Certainly a good bit of my travel choices are shaped by the full-time presence of my furry girl. At times it gets to be a lot (for both of us!), and it’s hard to pass up an especially great hike (or restaurant!) because of her, but the positives so completely outweigh the downsides that it really isn’t a discussion.
Want to know more about Lexi and her travels? She has her very own page on our website, so show her a little puppy love and check it out! See more about Lexi the Golden!
Come Along!
To stay up-to-date with our adventure, head over to Facebook and like Just Being Bing. I’ll post each update there as well as on my website.
As you can imagine, traveling for an extended period of time takes a lot of planning and preparation, and I love the planning! Once we’re on the road though, there’s room for all kinds of twists and turns in our travel. I love so many of the unexpected moments of our trips.
There’s also a ton of prayer involved – both as part of the planning, and when we are on the road. If you’d like to pray for me (and Lexi!) while we are adventuring, we would be grateful. I’ll share a few specfics in my updates. Thank you!
Maybe we will see you Around the Bend!
Future Just Being Bing & Finding Freedom News
I’m excited to share the road with you! If you’re keen to follow along on my Northwest Passage trip, check back on the home page of Just Being Bing, or follow me on Facebook or Instagram for all the updates, news and photos. My ultimate goal is to inspire others to find their own freedom on the road!
To make sure you get all the upcoming news about my upcoming book, Finding Freedom: A Girls’ Guide to the Open Road – join The Wander-Bings, a Facebook group for anyone looking to find and share the wonder in their travels.
Travel on!
Looking forward to reading all about your travels. Praying for safety, majestic views, priceless memories and just the joy of traveling this beautiful country of ours.
Goodness – I’m sorry for not responding to this ages ago. Thank you, as always, for your prayers and your interest. Love you bunches!